Horizon franchise is now amidst a legal tumult with New Line Cinema shortly before Chapter 2's theatrical premiere

Kevin Costner wants to show people how the Old West actually was through his Horizon franchise, where the first film failed drastically at the box office. Now, just three more chapters to go, but the problem is, the parties involved with the film are first required to deal with this new legal elephant in the room.

New Line Cinema has filed an arbitration claim against Territory Pictures, Costner's production banner, as per The Hollywood Reporter. According to the report, both companies were supposed to pay a portion of the financing provided for the films to City National Bank as a part of the co-financing agreement. However, it appears like it didn't really go well.

Allegedly, New Line Cinema covered the portion that Territory Pictures was supposed to pay, alongside theirs. However, the payment for Costner's firm reportedly fell short, and City National Bank had to step in. Before we can talk about the next chapter in this saga, all the parties are now supposed to get out of this situation first.

How did the first chapter in the Horizon saga perform?

The first two films had a reported budget of around $100 million, and both likely shared equal parts of it. We say it as the first film was said to be produced under a $50 million budget.

However, the first film in the franchise, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, was a box office disaster as it also failed to cover the production cost. It garnered $38.7 million at the global box office, with $29 million coming in domestically and $9.7 million from other countries.

When Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 opened, it ranked in third position on its first weekend (June 28-30, 2024), behind Inside Out 2 and A Quiet Place: Day One, both films doing $50+ million business during the period.

Earnings of the Kevin Costner film eventually started falling, failing to recover at any weekend that came during its theatrical run. Here's how the rest of its weekend looked at the domestic box office.

Weekend 2 - $5.3 million
Weekend 3 - $2.2 million
Weekend 4 - $682k
Weekend 5 - $76k
Weekend 6 - $29k

Although it became a hit Video-On-Demand film, we don't know how much it helped the creators financially.

What's the status on the second chapter in the series?

The film is said to be complete and has already had a couple of premieres, at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 7, 2024, and the 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 7, 2025. We still don't have the final release date for the film.

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 was supposed to be here already; its initial release was on August 16, 2024. However, the tanking of the first film coerced the creators into changing their plans. And now we have this new legal issue, so whatever release date there was for the film, it might get delayed again.

All in all, there are four chapters in the Horizon: An American Saga franchise. However, we can't say how the makers will find a way around it if things remain the same.